Scope Of French Riots Narrows
Violence In 115 Towns, Compared To Nearly 300 Two Nights Earlier
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Play CBS Video Video Roots Of Rage In France There are signs the riots that have engulfed largely immigrant neighborhoods in France may be subsiding. Sheila MacVicar spoke to young people about their feelings on the government and the rioters.
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Video Cracking Down On Paris Rioters After two weeks of rioting in the outskirts of Paris, government officials are taking action against rioters who have clashed with police and started fires. Sheila MacVicar reports.
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Video Riots Rage On In France After another night of sweeping violence, towns in France are being put under curfew. Several police were injured, 1,000 rioters jailed and 1,400 cars were burned. Sheila MacVicar takes a look.
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French firefighters control a blaze as smoke billows from the remains of two stores which were torched overnight in the city of Arras, northern France Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2005. (AP)
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Firemen fight a blaze at a furniture warehouse Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005 in Arras, northern France. A state of emergency in some areas of France failed to prevent a 13th night of rioting in poor city suburbs as youths torched more than 600 vehicles. (Getty Images/Philippe Huguen)
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Charred cars destroyed in recent violence are piled up in a dumping ground in Grigny, south of Paris, Tuesday, Nov.8, 2005. (AP)
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A weary firefighter in Gentilly, Nov. 8, 2005 (AP Photo)
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Neighbors gathered Nov. 7 to mourn Jean-Jacques Le Chenadec, 61, the first fatality in the riots. He was beaten by rioters in Stains, France, when he tried to put out a fire at his apartment building. (AP)
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Interactive Urban Unrest Officials say things appear to back to 'normal' in France after weeks of violence.
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Fast Facts France Learn about the people, economy and history.
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Photo Essay Secrets Of Paris This city of beauty and innovation also has a few dirty little secrets. They’re not what you think...
Villepin, tacitly acknowledging that France has failed to live up to its egalitarian ideals, said discrimination is a "daily and repeated" reality.
"We must be lucid: the republic is at a moment of truth," Villepin told parliament Tuesday in a debate where lawmakers spoke frankly about France's failings.
A poll published Wednesday by the daily Le Parisien showed 73 percent of people in France favored allowing authorities to impose curfews. The poll was based on telephone interviews conducted Tuesday with a random sample of 805 people across the country. No margin of error was provided.
French regional officials are preparing to use the state of emergency powers to impose curfews. The Interior Ministry said there is no centralized list of towns and cities that would be affected, because curfew measures are being drawn up locally.
The northern French city of Amiens, the central city of Orleans and Savigny-sur-Orge, and the Essonne region south of Paris said they plan curfews for minors, who must be accompanied by adults at night. Amiens also planned to forbid the sale of gasoline in cans to minors.
Curfew violators face up to two months in jail and a euro3,750 (US$4,400) fine. Minors face one month in jail.
Curfews threaten every French person's most prized possession, liberty, not something any French government can do lightly, reports CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar.
In Clichy-Sous-Bois, where the rioting began, MacVicar spoke with a group of high-school students, who said they think a curfew will only make matters worse. One student said there isn't enough work for young people in the suburbs and that "every time we go somewhere, we're hassled by the police," and called racist names.
And while the students say they are scared of the violence, each admitted to knowing at least one person who had been arrested for being involved in the riots.
French historians say the rioting is more widespread and more destructive in material terms than the May riots of 1968, when university students erected barricades in Paris' Latin Quarter and across France, throwing paving stones at police. That unrest, a turning point in modern France, led to a general strike by 10 million workers and forced President Gen. Charles de Gaulle to dissolve parliament and fire Premier Georges Pompidou.
©MMV CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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